Alot of questions about disc herniations, please help

Hi Ladderguy,

Welcome to the CP board of HealingWell. All of us here suffer from some form of chronic pain, many w/ similar back issues that your wife has.

First - what type of doctor is she seeing to help w/ her pain needs? Most of us here go to a pain management (PM) doctor.

There are so many treatments for chronic pain, including back issues. There are medications (opiods, muscle relaxers, nerve meds, steroids, etc).... There are procedures that can be done to help w/ pain (trigger point injections, nerve blocks, epidurals, etc). There is physical therapy, massage therapy, trying to keep our bodies moving w/ as much exercise as we can tolerate, etc. Finally, there's healthy eating, eliminating toxins that can exacerbate pain (smoking, etc), etc.

I absolutely know how hard is can be to struggle w/ pain issues.... and care for young children. (I'm a mom of many kids, including twin almost-three year olds).

Anyway, maybe you can tell us a little more about your wife's situation.... what kind of doctor she is seeing; has she tried other meds; has she had any procedures done; what are the doctors recommending; etc. That would be helpful.

But - I applaud you for seeking out help on your wife's behalf :) I hope you'll find the members on here supportive and encouraging. Look forward to hearing more from you. --Tina

Hi Ladderguy,

Has her PM or ortho recommended a nerve medication for your wife? Pain meds don't generally work well for nerve pain. And has she tried a muscle relaxer to help with the myofascial pain? And has she been seen by a neurosurgeon yet?

I've got several herniated discs, compression fracture to T12, cervial and lumbar radiculopathy, myofascial pain syndrome, thoracic outlet syndrome. si joint dysfunction, chronic non migrane headaches among a list of other junk from a car accident back in 2005. At the time I was home caring for 4 children under age 8 while my hubby worked.

I've done more injections than I can count and nerve ablations. Its hit or miss on whether they work and everyone responds to them differently. For myself I only get very short term relief from the injections but with the nerve ablations I get about 6 months relief.

For me I do well with some of the injections but even still they don't totally get rid of all the pain. I try to keep my level down with injections, PT, craniosacral therapy, trigger point injections, heat, ice, biofeedback, hot showers and baths. Depending on the day some things work better than others.

Hi Ladderguy,

I'd certainely ask if a nerve pain medication would be helpful. Even if it only brings the pain level down a notch or 2. With her cervical radiculopathy thats nerve pain. And the first type may work or she may need to try different ones in order to find one that works for her.

As far as injections that's going to be a personal decision with her and the doc's to figure out. For most its a hit or miss on if they work. And one type make not work and another may be the one that helps. The only thing I can say is unfortunatley when your searching for info online about injections you'll see more negative outcomes on injections than you will see positive. Its like with anything when something doesn't work for someone they will go online and post all about their terrible experience. But you don't see alot of people posting how well its worked for them, because it did work and they've managed to get their life back for now and are too busy to keep posting.

I can only go as far as my own personal exp on PT. I've had docs tell me no pain no gain. It wasn't until a couple a years ago that my neurosurgeon said thats crazy. As she said PT is going to at times cause some mild discomfort but it should not be causing pain. So together we found a new PT.

I can understand her not wanting to take a strong pain medication when your not home. I certainely understand how hard that is taking care of small children and needing to be 100%. The problem is that if she's only taking something once you get home she's playing catch up trying to get the pain under control. Has she talked to her PM about something not as strong that she can take in the daytime. Or possibly split her pain pill and only take half during the day. Most times once your body adjusts to the pain med that groggy feeling goes away.

I can't give you an answer on if its a lifelong injury. Everybody recovers differently. There are alot of people out there that do have herniations and never knew they had them until they go in for an MRI for something unrelated.

But please let her know that she needs to take care of herself or she's not going to be any good for the kids. Constantly being in pain does suck the life out of you.